New heights for Jarun Cup as the ebt season takes off

Each year, the Jarun Cup has grown in popularity and size, reaching new milestones last week with the 17th edition of the competition. More than 80 teams and 750 players participated across nine events on the shores of Lake Jarun in one of Europe's biggest beach handball tournaments, announcing the beginning of a thrilling beach handball summer.

GRD Leca – Spar and Multichem Szentendrei NKE celebrate trophies

The excitement culminated on Sunday, when the 2025 titleholders were crowned on sand in the men’s and women’s senior competitions. After suffering a loss in the preliminary group stage against HEI Beachhandball, Portuguese side and 2024 champions GRD Leca – Spar took their revenge in the final, with a clear win against the Danish team (19:12, 22:20).

With 24 teams registered for the men’s senior competition, it was no easy job for GRD Leca – Spar to prove that they still belong among the best, as Vasco Nogueira highlights in a post-game interview. “It took a lot of effort to win this tournament,” said GRD’s player, adding: “There were a lot of great teams and the competition has never been stronger. I think it was the attitude and partnership that led us to gold. We all played great, but the best today was Manu Rado, who led the team.”

The podium was completed by Goteborg BHC from Sweden, who defeated BHC Harena in front of their Croatian fans to take the bronze medal.

Three Dutch clubs and one Hungarian side took the start in the women’s semi-finals and all the odds pointed at an orange celebration at the end of the tournament. Last year’s winners Westsite Amsterdam were among the final four teams now, but their dreams of another trophy were shattered when they lost the semi-final against Multichem Szentendrei NKE. The Hungarian side would then go on and celebrate the newly won title by taking down KRAS Volendam in the final on Sunday.

Emese Tóth shared her thoughts after Multichem’s impressive win in the final: “The atmosphere was great, I didn’t expect such a big win and thought it would be much harder.” Despite four intense days with multiple games on the schedule, tiredness did not stop the Hungarian side from performing at their best: “Even though we were tired, we kept our concentration and I’m happy about that. We didn’t prepare any special tactics for our opponents, but each player gave their best and it paid off.”

After an intense duel, Hiekka Hauskaa also added their name to the podium and stole the bronze medal from Westsite Amsterdam, who finished in fourth.

Young talents also had a chance to shine on sand, with seven men’s and women’s age categories (2008, 2010, 2012 and 2014) being included in the event.

Final standings for all nine events of the Jarun Cup 2025 are available here.  

Future beach handball referees in the spotlight

Apart from attracting more teams and fans this year, Jarun Cup 2025 also stood out by taking part in a newly implemented initiative to empower the next generation of beach handball referees – the EHF Beach Handball Candidate Referee Programme. This programme aims to develop future international referees through training and mentorship, helping them gain practical experience at top ebt tournaments.

The first course of the programme took place between 1 and 5 May, as part of the event in Croatia, with four participating referee pairs, from Croatia, Hungary, Poland and Serbia. 

This year, the EHF Beach Handball Candidate Referee Programme consists of three stages with different referee pairs at each event, combining 10 pairs in total. Three more pairs will be present at the Diego Carrasco International Cup between 19 and 23 June for the second part of the initiative, while the programme will conclude at Thessaloniki ebt (17–21 July), where three pairs will also take part.

The activities planned during the courses include workshops, learning sessions, physical and theoretical exams and onsite officiating.

ebt season to fully take off in the summer

The ebt season will continue in Germany and Bulgaria on 30 May and 1 June with two events — the Karacho Beach Cup Münster 2025 and Beach Mania Primorsko. An overview of the past and upcoming beach handball competitions is available here.

Main and in-text images © Paweł Jakubowski